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Playlist No Passport Required

No Passport Required

Moving Beyond Phở at a Revamped Chicago Vietnamese Restaurant

Daniel Hautzinger

After remodeling, Lincoln Square's LC Phở n Grill reopened with an expanded menu that features harder-to-find Vietnamese dishes that the husband-and-wife owners workshopped while exploring Vietnamese restaurants in California.

Chicago's One-of-a-Kind Korean Soup Specialist

Daniel Hautzinger

Han Bat serves basically one thing: the milky, restorative Korean soup known as seolleongtang, which takes hours and hours to make. "When [Koreans] come to visit Chicago, they come over here, because... we are the only one who does this kind of food," says the owner.

A Filipino Restaurant Born Out of a Love for Mom's Cooking

Daniel Hautzinger

"I never really loved high school lunches or any of that, anything outside of what my mom prepared in the kitchen," says Ray Espiritu, the owner of Isla Pilipina in Lincoln Square. When he didn't know what to do after graduating, he decided to take over a restaurant.

A Chicago Restaurant Where Indian and Chinese Influences Meet

Daniel Hautzinger

Himalayan Sherpa Kitchen serves many hard-to-find Nepali specialties, which combine Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese culinary influences, unlike many other Nepali restaurants in Chicago, which offer mostly North Indian dishes.

A New Life in Chicago Serving an Old Food That Represents Their Home

Daniel Hautzinger

Andrea Andrade and Jose Navea didn't plan to stay in Chicago when they came to visit. Now they operate their own restaurant serving arepas, a nostalgic staple food of their home country of Venezuela. "You can't say Venezuela and not say arepas," Navea says. 

Haitians in Chicago

Daniel Hautzinger

With chef Marcus Samuelsson visiting Miami's Little Haiti on No Passport Required, explore the history of Chicago’s Haitian community, which may stretch back to the founding of the city, touches the 1893 World’s Fair, and continues today in a time of uncertainty.

Marcus Samuelsson Visits Chicago's Mexican Community

Daniel Hautzinger

When Marcus Samuelsson visits the Mexican community of Chicago in No Passport Required, he meets several Chicagoans WTTW knows well. Further immerse yourself in the Mexican community with videos, profiles, and recipes from the chefs and others in the show.

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